Men of Fuel;

There is a saying among children that many of us have said or at least were told to say when we were younger: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.  To be honest, I don’t think there could be anything further from the truth.  After all broken bones quickly mend, yet many of us can probably point to words that have caused wounds that are far from healing.

If you have ever been impacted by the words of others, or impacted others with your words, come on out and join us this coming Wednesday for our new series “ The Weight of our Words”

Invest and Invite

D.R.
—
See our blog at https://menoffuel.com/blog and leave your comments

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Men of Fuel;

Last week we discussed how difficult it is for us to change.  We are often set in our ways and styles, and sadly, in many aspects of our lives, that inability or unwillingness to change makes us ineffective, out-dated and sometimes, even irrelevant.

We then looked at how God’s relationship with His people has been ever-changing; from his time speaking directly to Adam and Eve in the Garden, to moving into the Tabernacle with the Levites, in the Ark of the Covenant with the priests, to revealing himself through the Law, to sending Christ to live among us, to the indwelling of His Spirit…from the Old Testament to the New…

What we learned is that despite this change, God Himself remains the same.  But because His people changed in many ways, He changed the way He revealed himself.  Just think: the Israelites began as a small chosen sect from a promise to one man, then they grew to many; they were mostly stationary, then they were tribal, then were nomadic, then they were enslaved, then they were free, (at least physically)…God’s people changed so God changed the way he met them.  His presence did not change, but his PRESENTATION did.

Upon reflection, I started to think about what used to get me out of bed 10 years ago to start going to TFM, the predecessor of Fuel.  Lord knows, it was NOT an email blast that got me to wake up an hour or two earlier and roll out of bed, it was a personal invitation.

After digesting DR’s message, I began thinking about the people I had invited to our Kick Off and whom I hoped would magically show up.  Each of them had been invited several times before.  But why would they suddenly accept my email invitation? This was probably the 4th time I sent them an invite, and frankly, my invitation was old.  My pitch to them was irrelevant and I am convicted by this revelation.  And I have to admit that my time has been poorly spent trying invite people with the exact same “presentation” expecting a different result.

There’s a guy DR and I know who has he’s led this “Swing-Dance” ministry for years.  It used to be the “thing” in the 40’s and was briefly popular in the 90’s…but its so old.  And the only people who join it, are the same people week after week, year after year. But its the only thing this guy really likes to do, and he’s limiting his reach and growth to a dying breed.  But don’t we have a tendency to do that?  It used to work…like my pastel-colored Ski jacket.  But how many people are being reached by Swing Dancing today?  Disco and the whole retro scene would attract more people…

Am I alone in this, or is there anyone out there that has been using the same presentation somehow expecting different results?  Perhaps it’s the way you present yourself to your boss, or your co-workers, your family, or your friends. Heck, there’s a slide in a PowerPoint Presentation that I use at work to pitch my services, that someone created about 7 years ago.  It’s tired, even I am sick of seeing it, yet its in every presentation I give.  It’s time for a new slide.

Maybe it’s the way you present your beliefs to the same group?  Has our presentation just become an old outdated approach that allows us to check some box saying we did what we were “supposed” to do?

What would it look like if we changed our presentation, or better yet what if we started to consider first those we were making the presentation to?  Would that change things?  What if it even allowed different results, would it be something we would consider?

Come on out Wednesday as we “present” part II of our series “Our Go to Market Strategy”

Invest first, then invite…and stop the swing dance…:)

Pat Mancuso
patmancuso@mac.com
(703) 401-8302
FUEL
See our Blog at: https://menoffuel.com/blog

“It’s what you need to keep you going…”

Our mission is to create a comfortable, relevant and honest environment where men can explore and discuss aspects of life, purpose and faith.

We accomplish our mission by reviewing pertinent issues in men’s lives, examining them through relevant biblical principles, followed by a time of discussion with other men.

Wednesday mornings, September through May…and beyond
6:30 AM to 7:30 AM @ Hidden Creek Country Club, Reston, VA.

http://www.hiddencreekcc.com

A few weeks ago surfing on Facebook, I came across an old photo of a friend that seemed to be generating a lot of attention.  The picture was of my buddy sitting at a ski lodge in Vermont, about 20 years ago simply waiving to the camera.  The funny thing about the picture was this incredibly ridiculous pastel-colored ski jacket he was wearing.  It was green, pink, blue, orange…it was like a winterized technicolor dream coat, and there was no shortage of posts under the picture mocking my friend for is choice in winter apparel.

I was all set to pile on, to jump in the fray and post something funny about what a tool he was, for wearing such a ludicrous jacket.  Fortunately for my friend there was something that kept me from adding a post to his picture.  The fact that I had owned the EXACT same jacket.  And what’s WORSE, in my spartan-like fashion sense, I think  I kept wearing it years after it had gone out of fashion, like my brown-leather bomber-jacket.  But that’s another story.

Wearing that Elton John-ish jacket at the time was OK, matter of fact, it was the COOL thing to do.  And it worked, as unbelievable as that may seem today, and in that exact same way I have to realize that the jacket I wear today will look foolish in the pictures I show my kids in 20 years.  So while all of us will admit that we hate change, we have to also admit that there’s a cost to not changing.

I mean, really, what’s my choice?  Stop wearing winter jackets? Or simply change my jacket?  After Snow-maggedon, I am glad I did not stop wearing jackets, however at the same time my wife is excited that I no longer wear THAT jacket.

Have you ever had to change anything?  Were you able to pick up on the subtle changes around you to quickly adapt to your environment, or are you still the guy driving around in your pink and aqua colored ski jacket looking for a Blockbuster that rents VHS tapes?  Now while those things just make you look silly, mostly because they only impact you, what we start to realize is that when we refuse to change the things that have the potential to impact others, we end up becoming irrelevant.

Come on out this Wednesday as we fire up our second year at Hidden Creek Country Club and take a look at how we can maintain our effectiveness by being able to adapt and change.

Invite someone to join you.  Especially if you attended our golf outing and invited someone to play that day—you have earned the relational capital to invite them back.

We are eager to see you at the club, please try to get there by 6:20 to give us all a brief time to catch up before kicking off at  6:30 sharp.

Invest and Invite,

Pat

Pat Mancuso
patmancuso@mac.com
(703) 401-8302
FUEL
See our Blog at: https://menoffuel.com/blog

“It’s what you need to keep you going…”

Our mission is to create a comfortable, relevant and honest environment where men can explore and discuss aspects of life, purpose and faith.

We accomplish our mission by reviewing pertinent issues in men’s lives, examining them through relevant biblical principles, followed by a time of discussion with other men.

Wednesday mornings, September through May…and beyond
6:30 AM to 7:30 AM @ Hidden Creek Country Club, Reston, VA.

http://www.hiddencreekcc.com

Men of Fuel,

Its the most wonderful time of the year…and its not Christmas nor back to school either…

Come out and join us as we recap and celebrate the inaugural Fuel year at Hidden Creek Country Club… With delicious and barely nutritious breakfast burritos. The annual Triple B where we look back and reflect upon all that we have done together.

Bring a friend to come see first-hand, why you bounce out of bed before 6AM each week. This will be an opportunity for any of you to briefly share what Fuel has meant to you, done for you, or taught you.

We have been through a great agenda of talks…do you remember the Prodigal Sermon? The Underhill’s Bill—and not taking responsibility for our own decisions? Our series on Accountability?

Will you ever look at the movie Rocky Balboa the same way again?

“You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now if you know what you’re worth then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain’t you! You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain’t gonna have a life. “

Our discussions on not having enough to give anymore? The talk about being connected with all these virtual communities like Facebook and Linked In and Blackberries and iPhones yet being more disconnected than ever before? Remember the Inward Pull where DR’s company realized that his sales people had only 40 hours PER YEAR to be with their customers? How about the left handed man and the fact that the best scene in the Godfather was taken from the Bible?

The talks on “Am I falling or am I flying?” Denial. Remembering. The picture of Church—and how it ought to be lived outside the walls of a building…

The Easter message about resurrection, the stories of transformation, and the story of “Raising the Roof” pointing out that it was the people INSIDE and closest to Jesus who kept the people OUTSIDE away from Jesus…

We discussed the Promise and then spent two weeks “Waiting on God.” Waiting is not meant to be passive…and its ordained time we are meant to “Prepare the Horse for Battle…” Prov 21:31.

All of this culminated into the final talk, “The Integrated Man” wary of becoming the “disintegrated” man…

Wednesday will be a blast. Please show up early and plan to stick around late.

So, as you know, we are launching “Starting Point—Summerfest at Fuel”. More info to follow, but sign ups will begin on Wednesday.

Get your BURRITO on.

Invest, Invite, Ingest…

Pat Mancuso
patmancuso@mac.com
(703) 401-8302
FUEL
See our Blog at: https://menoffuel.com/blog

“It’s what you need to keep you going…”

Our mission is to create a comfortable, relevant and honest environment where men can explore and discuss aspects of life, purpose and faith.

We accomplish our mission by reviewing pertinent issues in men’s lives, examining them through relevant biblical principles, followed by a time of discussion with other men.

Wednesday mornings, September through May…and beyond
6:30 AM to 7:30 AM @ Hidden Creek Country Club, Reston, VA.